Tours for Tour de France (long)
05-25-05, 10:02 AM
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Tours for Tour de France (long)
Hi Everyone,
I'm new here so bear with me. I decided to take the summer free after getting laid off in March - probably not the most financially prudent but necessary for my mental health. I think I am having a mid-life crisis.!!! Ha Ha Ha!! Hopefully, besides having fun, draining my savings for a house downpayment, and getting to visit relatives I have never met, I will also be able to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life.
I have also decided to do one of the ~7/8 day tours in the Pyrenees associated with the Tour de France. I want to do one that concentrates alot on the riding (almost every day 40 - 100+ miles each day) and with good food, accommodations, and seeing more of the countryside than the cities.
I have found the prices for these tours to be highly variable, ($2000 - almost $6000) and it is difficult to choose one. They all seem to promise the same thing. Money is a factor, but not as big a factor as having the right kind of experience since I don't know if I will ever have a chance to do something like this. I came across a touring company called DudeGirl which is relatively new but seems to be offering exactly what I want. It has 7 days of hard cycling, 3 days of viewing the tour, and demi-luxurious accommodations and food in the french countryside (8 dinners, all breakfasts, but no lunches). But it is on the high side of that range. Its even more expensive than a similar TrekTravel tour, which I have heard is quite good even though the cycling may not be as intense in the latter.
I had pretty much decided to do the DudeGirl Trip but started to look around a bit more on the web at other prices, and I realized that the costs for the one I am considering are a lot higher than others that seem to be close to the same type of trip. It may be that the company is relatively new (couple of years) and therefore is not experienced enough to control costs. On the other hand, it may just be that we get really the best of everything in it, i.e. staying at countryside chateau's - some private home-types with excellent food and home-spun service. But I just can't figure out the high costs. I did get some references from people who had done it before and some of them are doing it again, regardless of the cost. Last year, another person who was going to do a half tour with them and then do the BackCountry company tour decided to forget about the latter and stayed with DudeGirl even though they lost the money on the BackCountry. I've talked to the owner of DudeGirl, and she seems to know what she is talking about and does really want to give the best experience to her clients. She really considers the company her baby and insists that the worse thing that could happen for her is if somebody is not completely satisfied with the tour.
1) Have any of you or your friends done ANY of these types of tours
associated with the TdF?
2) Any specific ones you can recommend to consider or NOT to consider?
3) Is it really THAT expensive (effectively about $800/day excluding
flights) to do something like this in France/Spain?
4) Any and all comments would be appreciated. The quicker the better
since I really need to make a decision either today or tomorrow (at the
latest).
Sorry about the length and the rush.
Cheers,
Orest
I'm new here so bear with me. I decided to take the summer free after getting laid off in March - probably not the most financially prudent but necessary for my mental health. I think I am having a mid-life crisis.!!! Ha Ha Ha!! Hopefully, besides having fun, draining my savings for a house downpayment, and getting to visit relatives I have never met, I will also be able to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life.
I have also decided to do one of the ~7/8 day tours in the Pyrenees associated with the Tour de France. I want to do one that concentrates alot on the riding (almost every day 40 - 100+ miles each day) and with good food, accommodations, and seeing more of the countryside than the cities.
I have found the prices for these tours to be highly variable, ($2000 - almost $6000) and it is difficult to choose one. They all seem to promise the same thing. Money is a factor, but not as big a factor as having the right kind of experience since I don't know if I will ever have a chance to do something like this. I came across a touring company called DudeGirl which is relatively new but seems to be offering exactly what I want. It has 7 days of hard cycling, 3 days of viewing the tour, and demi-luxurious accommodations and food in the french countryside (8 dinners, all breakfasts, but no lunches). But it is on the high side of that range. Its even more expensive than a similar TrekTravel tour, which I have heard is quite good even though the cycling may not be as intense in the latter.
I had pretty much decided to do the DudeGirl Trip but started to look around a bit more on the web at other prices, and I realized that the costs for the one I am considering are a lot higher than others that seem to be close to the same type of trip. It may be that the company is relatively new (couple of years) and therefore is not experienced enough to control costs. On the other hand, it may just be that we get really the best of everything in it, i.e. staying at countryside chateau's - some private home-types with excellent food and home-spun service. But I just can't figure out the high costs. I did get some references from people who had done it before and some of them are doing it again, regardless of the cost. Last year, another person who was going to do a half tour with them and then do the BackCountry company tour decided to forget about the latter and stayed with DudeGirl even though they lost the money on the BackCountry. I've talked to the owner of DudeGirl, and she seems to know what she is talking about and does really want to give the best experience to her clients. She really considers the company her baby and insists that the worse thing that could happen for her is if somebody is not completely satisfied with the tour.
1) Have any of you or your friends done ANY of these types of tours
associated with the TdF?
2) Any specific ones you can recommend to consider or NOT to consider?
3) Is it really THAT expensive (effectively about $800/day excluding
flights) to do something like this in France/Spain?
4) Any and all comments would be appreciated. The quicker the better
since I really need to make a decision either today or tomorrow (at the
latest).
Sorry about the length and the rush.
Cheers,
Orest
05-25-05, 01:47 PM
#2
Macro Geek
Is it really THAT expensive (effectively about $800/day excluding flights) to do something like this in France/Spain?
No, cycling in the French countryside is not THAT expensive -- if you plan the trip yourself. If you take one of these tours, you will be paying about $700 per day for someone to organize everything for you. There is nothing wrong with this. I did not realize there was so much money to be made organizing bike tours. Hmm, maybe I should consider a career change! (NOT!!!) But there are cheaper ways to go.
A similar topic was discussed recently in this thread:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=106775
Alan
05-25-05, 03:36 PM
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$800 a day seems a bit steep to me. I can only suggest you might try asking around in Cycling Plus magaine's forums. They are in the UK and I know from the ads in thier magazine there are a large number of touring outfits based in England.
https://www.cyclingplus.co.uk/forum/
https://www.cyclingplus.co.uk/forum/
06-17-05, 02:13 PM
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Sorry I'm just seeing this. But I'll still post.
Here's my input. The following is a site that reviews several bike tour groups in detail and then has "rider reviews." I'd go with a tour group that you have heard good things about, if any. If not, maybe this site will help narrow your search.
https://www.biketour-reviews.com/
I went on a poorly organized and executed tour package to see the TDF and it was the most stressful vacation I've ever had. I needed a vacation after my vacation. FYI, it was a "Europe-by-bike" tour package organized by Len Caplan, so, if you know anyone looking at tour groups, they should take it off their list.
If you go, I hope you have a great time.
Here's my input. The following is a site that reviews several bike tour groups in detail and then has "rider reviews." I'd go with a tour group that you have heard good things about, if any. If not, maybe this site will help narrow your search.
https://www.biketour-reviews.com/
I went on a poorly organized and executed tour package to see the TDF and it was the most stressful vacation I've ever had. I needed a vacation after my vacation. FYI, it was a "Europe-by-bike" tour package organized by Len Caplan, so, if you know anyone looking at tour groups, they should take it off their list.
If you go, I hope you have a great time.
06-20-05, 09:36 PM
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Check this out on Len Caplan and Europe-by-Bike:
From: "scrubbydouglas" <scrubbydouglas@...>
Date: Mon Aug 2, 2004 11:13 pm
Subject: Len Caplan: don't trust him scrubbydouglas
Offline
Send Email
My opinion is that Len Caplan should not be trusted to live up to
what he promises.
This is true for simple things (like sending out intinerary emails)
to obscure things (he actually told me that Andrew would be
available to ferry us up the Alpe d'Huez on his motorcycle!)
Len says anything necessary to get you to send him money and then he
fails to meet expectations.
I hope that others will reply to this thread and offer their
opinions and experiences so that other people who're considering
Europe by Bike will have more information.
Here's an interesting link regarding Len and people's impressions of
doing business with him.
https://groups.google.com/groups?q=le...en&lr=&ie=UTF-
8&sa=N&tab=wg
On a personal note, we booked through him, paid him and was notified that we were cancelled - end of emails,phome calls, no refund and no further contact. This spring, the NY Atty General's office has picked up my case against him.
From: "scrubbydouglas" <scrubbydouglas@...>
Date: Mon Aug 2, 2004 11:13 pm
Subject: Len Caplan: don't trust him scrubbydouglas
Offline
Send Email
My opinion is that Len Caplan should not be trusted to live up to
what he promises.
This is true for simple things (like sending out intinerary emails)
to obscure things (he actually told me that Andrew would be
available to ferry us up the Alpe d'Huez on his motorcycle!)
Len says anything necessary to get you to send him money and then he
fails to meet expectations.
I hope that others will reply to this thread and offer their
opinions and experiences so that other people who're considering
Europe by Bike will have more information.
Here's an interesting link regarding Len and people's impressions of
doing business with him.
https://groups.google.com/groups?q=le...en&lr=&ie=UTF-
8&sa=N&tab=wg
On a personal note, we booked through him, paid him and was notified that we were cancelled - end of emails,phome calls, no refund and no further contact. This spring, the NY Atty General's office has picked up my case against him.
